Holiday traditions

Matt and I are entering our first Christmas season and as married couple, and at least half of us are anxious to develop our own "family" Christmas traditions. The only one we've decided on so far is the purchasing of an Advent calendar. We'll trade off chocolate eating/door opening duties daily. The question is, what other traditions should we be thinking about? Stockings? Christmas tree decorations? Mailing holiday cards? Throwing a party? I have no clue, but figured you out there might have suggestions or might be able to tell us about your favorite Christmas traditions!

Amazing Race redux

Is anyone else very excited about the Amazing Race returning tonight? I am. The show was better in its early days, but I still enjoy watching it. I especially love seeing all the new locations and learning about traditions in other countries. The two of us (Matt and I) sometimes daydream about being on the show, but then we remember that it would require thirty days away from home, no sleep, lots of jet lag and stress and physical exertion. But it's still fun to think about sometimes.

Winning streak over

So, Notre Dame's season has been rough. We all know this. But yesterday it sunk to a new low, losing to Navy and ending a 43-game winning streak.

We still had some fun yesterday, though. Matt and I spent Saturday morning exploring Michigan Avenue. We checked out the shops but didn't actually buy anything. Most of the stuff there was a little out of our price range! Afte watching the Michigan and Notre Dame games, we headed out to the suburbs to have dinner with our friends Emily and Jeff and their baby Joseph at their house. It was fun to be in a real house again, and Joseph is more than four months old so he was ready to play and smile and laugh with us. We finished off the night with a little more football, and then came hoome and went to bed.

Today we're having some people over for Super Bowl 41.5 -- the unbeaten Patriots take on the also-unbeaten defending Super Bowl champions, the Colts. I'm stuck doing a bit of work today, too, but at least I can do it from home. I'm very grateful for all of the technology out there that allows me to sit on my couch and turn my sad old laptop into my work computer.